I Don't Need You
by Demonic Reivun
Summary: !Re-edited story! Joey had never asked for help when he ran away from home, but this time, things were different and the only person he called, was Seto Kiaba. Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh

Summary: Joey had never asked for help when he ran away from home, but this time, things were different and the only person he called, was Seto Kiaba. Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler

**I Don't Need You**

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Golden brown eyes stayed fixated to the ground as red tinted water dripped down from his long blond hair and mingled into the large puddle that was accumulating under him. The winds were cold and baiting as it bit and scrapped at his skin, roughly forcing chills down his spine every second it got, but compared to the rain; the little droplets of water that pelted down like stones against his back, the cold was nothing, either way Joey didn't care, because honestly, he hadn't even noticed it. When the lightning flashed around him and it was as though time had stopped for a moment of a second before darkness lived again and the clock started to flow once more as the water gushed down from the sky even harder, its sound; deafening. Each breath that escaped his cold lips were risen into the air as mist as the blond teenager lifted his head up to stare at the darken clouds that obscured the moons glow with a labored sigh.

They've always fought; his father and himself. It was usually verbally done and maybe once or twice it may have gotten a little physically violent; a sudden back of the hand or a rough push at the shoulders (mostly ever done only on his father's part), but that was all! It never escalated to anything major to have ever needed hospital attendance. And he has run away before. Plenty of times actually; more than he could count.

However, tonight, things turned out differently...

Verbal abuse started out as their typical fights, just as he expected. His father usually under the influence of alcohol, made it harder for his son to make his elder calm down and discuss their quarrel in a more civilized manner. A sudden stinging smack to the right cheek as normal for some smart remark Joey might have defended himself with, then, following the routine; the teen would storm into his room, grab a bag to fill with some of his belongings and a quick call to Tristan, just like usual. Unfortunately, what dear Joey wasn't expecting, was the abrupt smash of the liquor bottle upon the kitchen counter and within seconds, that lingering stinging sensation on his cheek intensified in hot white stripes as blood splattered onto the floor.

After that, Joey didn't particularly remembered what else had happened. Whilst scrambling out of that tiny apartment, he left with no bag of supplies and deep gash into his right arm. His chest hurt a great deal, in fact, Joey was starting to realise that breathing was starting to become more and more difficult as the time passed on. The only thing he had managed to take with him was his mobile.

Instead of calling Tristan or Yugi for help or to stay at their place for a couple of nights, young Joey Wheeler was found sitting by the pavement at the corner of a street leading to a darkened alley. God only knew how long he had stayed sitting there, and the faiths didn't bother to give Joey any sympathy as she had opened up the skies.

Waiting for the reassuring glow of the moon to penetrate through the clouds, Joey closed his eyes one more time, feeling them getting heavier as fatigue loomed over, when suddenly, something told him that the rain had stopped, even though it still stormed all around him noisily. Taking in a deep shuddering breath and he opened his eyes, and slowly focused his gaze onto icy blue orbs.

Dressed warmly and covered in a long, dark trench coat, Seto Kaiba stared in disbelieve as he tried to catch his breath for a moment as he stood there under the rain with his arm extended to partially cover himself and Joey with his umbrella. Words were not needed as Seto reached for the blond with his other hand and Joey reached out, shakily, to grasped it tightly.

* * *

Joey Wheeler had never made it a point to contact Seto in his life. Not on his birthday, not for a school group meeting, not to even banter him for his wealth. So tonight, when Seto's mobile had rung with an unknown identification, the CEO was sceptic to pick it up. It was customary for him to decline anonymous callers. But something that night, instinct probably, told him to answer that call. It was highly unorthodox for him to do so. Perhaps it was his mind telling him that he needed a break from his work and a good yelling for this poor unfortunately chap was in order.

When Seto pressed the ear piece to his right lobe, he hadn't even taken the time to open his mouth to interrogate as the caller cried over the line; practically pleading in sobs for help and assistance before it was abruptly cut off. In a bit of a daze, the male ended the call and placed it back on the table, leaning heavily in his chair as he contemplated the short message. He had known exactly who it was on the other side of the line, though; he wasn't sure of what to make of it.

Sitting there with silence, Seto stared out of his office window into the night as a flash of lightning lit up the city before it was caved once again into darkness. It had been more than an hour since he had answered that call. He couldn't make up his mind if it had been nothing but a prank, and had it been real, surely Wheeler would have called again?

Picking up his cell, he redialed the last answered number again and waited for the connection, however, it came back as a negative; apparently Joey's phone had been turned off.

A joke, nothing more. Just a silly game that Wheeler and his friends must be playing on him... imagine that, wasting an hour of work time over nothing.

Turning back to his laptop, he clicked a random key to bring it out from its screen saver and stared at the document that he was previously working on, his mind still trapped by that phone call.

It had sounded so real... desperate... and afraid.

Clenching his eyes tight, he gave a sigh as he snapped his laptop shut.

* * *

Through the heavy rain, Seto could hardly make anything out from behind the cars window as he turned another corner, keeping an eye out for just about anyone. Forty minutes he had been cruising around Joey Wheeler's residential location in search for the blond and if he found nothing in ten minutes, he was going to go home. Probably send Wheeler the head of a dead horse or something to get back at him.

Twenty five minutes on, and Seto was still at it; Joey's traumatized voice echoing at the back of his head as he doubled over the same road again, going even slower as he scanned his eyes over the street till they caught sight of the thin alleyways. Pulling his car to a stop, he turned off its engine and without hesitation, got out of the car with an umbrella and ran down the road into the rain as panic started to rise the more he replayed that short ten second message over and over in his mind, each time, hoping to God that it **_was_** just a prank.

It's been more than half an hour and even then, Seto still had no sights of the blond. It was getting extremely late, maybe it was best to give up and go home, and there was no way he was going to find Joey. Turning to around to leave, lightning struck overhead and it cast its bright light down upon a lonely figure, sitting by the curb as Seto felt his heart lurch at the sight before him. The pounding in his chest slowed down as sheer relieve practically flooded through his frame at the mere sight of Joey.

Only then did he realise just how deep the rain had soaked into his clothes and skin, and how cold it was, and Seto could not imagine what Joey must have felt like as he neared the younger male slowly, taking in the condition that Joey was before him as he watched blood dripped down the blond 's jaw line from a cut where the rain had washed the blood down to the point where he could see the small pieces of glass that was clearly still penetrated into Joey's cheek and the slash at his arm where it had been tied down by the boy's own shirt to keep pressure over the wound. Astonished at how Joey was still conscious from blood loss, he raised his umbrella over the males smaller frame and reached out his hand.

Joey Wheeler had not once ever called Seto Kaiba for assistance, nor did they ever speak unless needed; but now Seto had wished he was there for every time the blond had ever whispered or thought of for help.

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End Chapter One


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

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Seto didn't ask questions of any kind as he propped the drenched boy against his shoulder, staggering the both of them back to his car; the umbrella left somewhere back at the curb. Helping Joey into his seat, he then buckled the safety belt on for the younger boy before getting into the drivers seat and getting the engine running.

Heat blasted from the air-ducts as Seto tampered with the temperature settings, keeping his eyes half on the road and on Joey, worried that the blond was going to finally pass out, as he snapped his fingers at the others face. "Hey, Wheeler, hey! Wake up, you can't sleep yet."

Seto's voice forced brown eyes to widen for a moment before they soon started to slip shut again, feeling the weight over his lids too heavy to keep them opened for long before he received another snap of the fingers.

"C'mon mutt. You lasted this long, just hold out a little longer, don't succumb to it just yet, that's all I am asking from you." But Joey could hardly make out what the brunette was saying. Everything sounded like he was underwater; as though his ears were covered in liquid that just drowned and echoed the words out as he forced his eyes to strain on Seto's mouth, hoping to make something out of what he was saying. But he was safe now, right? Admittedly, he didn't think the eldest Kaiba would actually come and found him; Joey had thought that he was really going to die out there. However, he was now in the warmth of Seto's vehicle, and with his reassuring, yet incomprehensible voice sounding so soothing… what was a little sleep going to do any harm?

Finally, tired eyes closed slowly as he turned away from the passing street lamps that pained his eyes and now that the numerous pains and ache in his body felt nothing more than a numbed dull throb as he slipped into a deep sleep. The darkness engulfed his mind and Joey accepted it with open arms, wanting to bury himself deep within and to never wake up, even as he could vaguely make out Seto's voice, advising him to keep away it… Keep away from what? The darkness? But it was so inviting.... and warm, and tranquil… why would he ever want to leave this place?

Suddenly, Joey was jerked out from his dreams by a loud slam of a door to find that the car had stopped and there were painful lights flashing from beyond the windshield as his passenger door opened at his side and he could see Seto removing his seat belt and ushering him if he could move, or stand. When Joey gave no answer, Seto started calling out orders to someone and soon he could feel himself being lifted from the car seat and placed to lie down onto something soft as he delved in and out of consciousness as he tried to look up around him at unfamiliar faces in white and green masks as they moved around him. Before he knew it, he was no longer under the night sky, but in a room where more lights penetrated into his retinas as he blinked at them in vain, wanting to turn his head away, but found it being held in place by someone's hands as he hazily felt something being dabbed at his cheek and arm, feeling them sting in a sharp pain for a moment before sudden alleviation of relief trickled into his blood stream.

He could hear multiple voices coming from all around him, but Joey had the sense that he was in a safe place and out of all those voices, he could hear Seto's hovering over him as he felt something stroke down his uninjured arm. "Rest now Joey, everything's going to be alright…"

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End Chapter Two


	3. Chapter 3

Please re-read the first two chapters, as I have edited them and fix them up and added some fine tuning to the details, I know I have kept this chapter coming for a long time, and it is shorter than anticipated, but ...take it or leave it, here it is...

**Chapter Three**

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A body writhed under the sheets, as he twisted and turned, kicking one of the pillows off, along with the remote control that was used to control the beds mechanism and to contact a nurse as Joey let out a strangled cry of desperation before snapping his eyes open with a gasp for air, fingers reaching up for his neck, grasping at his throat as he tried to force more oxygen into his lungs as quickly as he could; choking and spluttering as he tried to catch his breath back before coming to a more calmer state as he leaned heavily back on his pillows, dry coughing a little as he started to look around for some water.

"Here." A voice picked up as a glass of water was handed to him and Joey reached out for it as he sat up to drink it as best as the pain in his chest would let him as he felt a span of warm fingers touching at the middle of his shoulders to help him lean up. Joey needn't look up to see who that person was as those fingers moved away from his back to take away the glass and rest it back in place on the bedside table nearby.

"Where?" Was all Joey was able to say before his voice croaked out on him and he start to cough, making Seto refill his glass for him to take another drink.

"You're in my home." The brunette responded as he helped Joey drink the water again. "You were taken care for by my personal line of doctors and medical facilities. You've obtained an eight stitched wound to your arm, and three differently placed line of four stitched cuts on your cheek." Placing the glass down, he then picked up a vial that sat on the same table and held out the bottle for Joey to see the pieces of glass shards that jingled around in its container. "And you also have a fracture on two of your lower ribs on the left. Amazing you didn't come down with something for how long you spent in the rain."

"Lovely. Well, I'd would'a been better off if ya had come for me sooner." Joey remarked as he reached out for the bottle and shook them lightly before passing them back to Seto, who in turn was quite pleased to hear the blonds' sarcasm. If he could muster the energy to joke, then he shouldn't be all that badly injured. Leaning back on his pillows he started to let his eyes wonder around the room briefly, noticing almost immediately that it was triple the size of his bedroom. Or rather, the walk in closet that was turned into a room after Joey realized that he couldn't share the only room in the apartment that his father slept in, or live in the living room when he needed some privacy. The place was lavish decorated; fine art hung on the wall, plush Persian carpet lined the floor, a large flat screen that seemed to hang from the ceiling at one end and then there was the vase of freshly cut flowers that centered the table by the window seemed a little too much. "So, I guess you're wonderin' why I called ya, huh?"

A brow arched as Seto's blue eyes lingered at Joey's cheek for a moment, noticing that the gauze was starting to peel off as he reached back for the chair that he was sitting on and brought it closer. "Yes, however, I'm more concerned of the reason for the state that I found you in three nights ago."

"Three nights?" Joey's voice raised in surprise; careful not to stretch the skin of his right cheek too much. Assuming that he was currently under a lot of painkillers, the light pain that still managed to seep through gave Joey a shudder to think how intense it would have been without any relievers. "Shit, I didn't think I would have been out for that long, I-" A small memory clicked in as he rolled his eyes and slumped even further into the cushions. "I never called Tristan back, damn! The dude's must'av been freakin' out all this time about me." Joey groaned as he covered his eyes with his left hand. "My phone, where is it, I gotta call him."

The blond started to move to get out of bed as he tried to pry the sheets off him with one hand before an arm came to rest over his chest, pushing him down at the shoulder. "I can't have you doing that, Wheeler, at least not for the next few days, you need your rest. Your cell phone was found out of battery and I, or rather Mokuba took the liberty to order you a charger for it, it should be arriving tomorrow… via regular mail, hence the delay. You can use the landline next to you on the other side if you like?" Seto explained as he coaxed the male to lie back on the bed and picked up the fallen controller and turned on the television and placed the control on the table and picked up another one. "Here, I'm sure even you can figure out how to control the channels. I'll let the nurse know that you're awake so they can do some tests on you and if you're fit for it, they'll give you something to eat later." He passed the television remote to the blond by tossing it on his bed as he picked up his laptop that Joey noticed to be sitting by the tables' edge as he closed it and started to walk for the door. "Anything else?"

Joey; in quite a stupor, shook his head as Seto nodded and started to leave before the blond suddenly quipped with a question. "Wait…" He paused, wondering how he was going to word it without trying to be rude. "Why did you… come for me, eventually?"

Seto blinked a couple of times at the blond before shrugging his shoulder nonchalantly. "It wasn't like I mused over the decision for hours to find you or not." Not that he was actually going to admit that he had. "You didn't leave a very detailed message, finding you was a miracle in itself."

"so, why did you come?" Joey pressed on, noticing that Seto was just buying time to answer.

"I don't know. Probably the same reason why I seemed to have insistent myself to sit by your bed this whole while you were asleep."

"And what reason is that?" Joey asked, confused.

"I don't know, Pup." He slipped the nickname, only to realize how affectionate it sounded after he had said it. "Maybe I'm just a lot nicer than we all thought." Not waiting for another question, he bid a quick farewell and walked out the door and just before he was out of earshot, a loud _'Thank You'_ was howled from Joey's room as the brunette snorted a laugh out of his nose with the shake of his head. Now that Wheeler was awake and apparently healthy, so to speak, he could concentrate more on getting back to work again. And **God**, it certainty irritated him how he didn't know the answer to Joey's question.

Back in the room, the blond snuggled back down in the sheets after inspecting the wound on his arm with an appreciative whistle. The wound was a lot larger than he realized, but the clean up and stitches were impressively done. Joey has had a number of threads sewn into him and this was the finest work he has seen. Pity about how he got it though…

Frowning at the thought, he hastily pushed it aside, not ready to bring it up as he started flicking through the channels like an expert TV guide, hoping to find something worthwhile to watch as he figured he'd give Tristan a call after his checkup. Wriggling his shoulders into the pillows again, Joey couldn't help but think how they were the softest things he had ever rested on. Compared to what he had at home, these were clouds and he had rocks! Then Yugi owned marshmallows, while Tristan had feathers; Joey hated those things; always poking you, and moving around till you had to fluff them up every now and then in the middle of the night. "Damn, I'm taking one of these babies with me when I leave."

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**End Chapter Three**


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